Rick Delbridge
Biographic Data
| ID | 4082429 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rick Delbridge |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rick |
| FAMILY NAME | Delbridge |
| SIGNATURE | DELBRIDGE R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cardiff University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 133 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Delivering micro-missions in public food transitions
Micro-missions represent small-scale, place-based strategies for societal innovation, distinct from grand missions that target national-level transformations. They offer potential for collaborative engagement among local stakeholders in the public sector, businesses, and civil society that aims to address local needs and promote wider innovation, particularly for social and ecological progress. Despite the potential for place-based micro-missions…
The management of second-generation migrant workers in China
How have organisations sought to manage tensions between the needs for flexible labour in neoliberal market economies and the benefits of a committed and motivated workforce? Through an in-depth, qualitative study of a Chinese company, we identify and theorise a novel variation of paternalism that was developed by the organisation to manage the tensions under neoliberal capitalism. We label this management regime ‘centrifugal paternalism’ since i…
The Layering of Meso-Level Institutional Effects on Employment Systems in Japan
Japan's corporate governance and employment relations systems have been under considerable pressures to reform towards a more Anglo-American model, against a back-drop of intensified global competition and slow economic growth over two 'lost' decades. But what is the relationship between these systems, and specifically, how does corporate governance structure condition employment relations practice? This paper adopts the 'Systems, Society, Domina…
Politics of place
The meaningfulness of the physical place within which resistance is nurtured and enacted has not been carefully considered in research on space and organizations. In this article, we offer two stories of middle managers developing resistance to managerial policies and decisions. We show that the appropriation and reconstruction of specific places by middle managers helps them to build autonomous resisting work thanks to the meanings that resister…
In pursuit of happiness
While psychologists and economists have concerned themselves with employee happiness and well-being, critical organizational theorists have rarely examined employees’ positive responses at work. To explain why call-centre employees in our study responded positively to their organization we adopt a relational sociological approach to examine employee happiness and well-being. This approach emphasizes two main features: firstly, it is sensitive to …
Inhabiting Institutions
This paper builds on recent contributions to understanding conditions of institutional complexity by developing a theoretical framework to elaborate the interdependencies between actions, contexts and institutional logics. Our aim is to refine existing explanations of how actors inhabit complex institutional settings. Drawing on a critical realist ontology, we treat agency and structure as analytically distinct phenomena to advance our understand…
Beyond the enterprise
In this article we argue that International HRM research will benefit from an extended research agenda that moves: i) beyond the enterprise, ii) beyond managerialism, and iii) beyond universalism. This will require both a wider range of theoretical resources to be brought to bear and a greater attentiveness to the interpenetrating levels of the empirical worlds that are subject to evaluation and explanation. The article reflects on the opportunit…
Normative Control and Beyond in Contemporary Capitalism
Emotional management in a mass customised call centre
Researchers have demonstrated the variety of interactive service sector work yet relatively little research has focused on the middle ground of 'mass customised service work'. In particular, the complex character of emotional work in such workplaces remains under investigated. This article applies Bolton's emotion management framework to a high-commitment mass customised call centre to extend understanding of the skills and content of such work. …
Human Relations special issue call for papers
Challenging conventions
In this article we theorize the early moments of non-isomorphic institutional change. In avoiding the `hero imagery' of the individual institutional entrepreneur we emphasize the role of different actors and broader historical processes in explaining the substantive changes and developments in the superyacht industry between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Particular attention is given to explaining the significance of entrepreneurialism, opposit…
Human Relations special issue call for papers
A Critical Assessment of the Evaluation of EU Interventions for Innovation in the SME Sector in Wales
In this paper, the EU Structural Fund intervention framework is critically assessed in an effort to reflect on the problems faced by policy-makers when trying to make sense of the complexity associated with innovation. An assessment is made of the `evidence-based' approach for reporting on EU Structural Fund interventions in the Welsh economy. It is argued that the measurement of quantifiable inputs and outputs fails to engage sufficiently with t…
Extended Review
Reviews of: Rowena Barrett (ed.): Management, Labour Process and Software \nDevelopment: Reality Bytes \n2005, London and New York: Routledge, xii 212 pages, hbk \nBill Harley, Jeff Hyman and Paul Thompson (eds): Participation \nand Democracy at Work: Essays in Honour of Harvie Ramsay \n2005, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, xiv 257 pages, \npbk \nTony Elger and Chris Smith: Assembling Work: Remaking Factory \nRegimes in Japanese Mul…
The Strength of Difference
Knowledge, Innovation and Institutional Change
Shopfloor Responsibilities Under Lean Teamworking
This paper reports managerial views of the responsibilities of teams, team members and functional specialists under lean production, based on the findings of an international study of management practices in the automotive components industry. The findings show limited evidence of shopfloor worker autonomy under lean team-working or of increases in technical skill; blue-collar specialists remain responsible for maintenance activities. However, th…
Manufacturing Control
Primary ethnographic research is drawn on in this paper so as to examine the nature of supervisory systems in two manufacturing organisations which have both, to varying degrees, implemented 'new' manufacturing techniques such as just-in-time and total quality management and have organised around 'teams'. Debates in industrial sociology and the labour process have understandably concentrated on the implications of such developments for workers; t…
Pushing back the frontiers
Drawing on primary and secondary sources the authors argue that the JIT/TQM manufacturing system intensifies work as a result of increased surveillance and monitoring of workers' activities, heightened responsibility and accountability, the harnessing of peer pressure within ‘teams' and via ‘customers', and the fostering of ‘involvement’ in waste elimination and the continuous improvement of the production process
Pushing back the frontiers
Drawing on primary and secondary sources the authors argue that the JIT/TQM manufacturing system intensifies work as a result of increased surveillance and monitoring of workers' activities, heightened responsibility and accountability, the harnessing of peer pressure within ‘teams' and via ‘customers', and the fostering of ‘involvement’ in waste elimination and the continuous improvement of the production process
Politics of place
The meaningfulness of the physical place within which resistance is nurtured and enacted has not been carefully considered in research on space and organizations. In this article, we offer two stories of middle managers developing resistance to managerial policies and decisions. We show that the appropriation and reconstruction of specific places by middle managers helps them to build autonomous resisting work thanks to the meanings that resister…
Challenging conventions
In this article we theorize the early moments of non-isomorphic institutional change. In avoiding the `hero imagery' of the individual institutional entrepreneur we emphasize the role of different actors and broader historical processes in explaining the substantive changes and developments in the superyacht industry between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Particular attention is given to explaining the significance of entrepreneurialism, opposit…
Emotional management in a mass customised call centre
Researchers have demonstrated the variety of interactive service sector work yet relatively little research has focused on the middle ground of 'mass customised service work'. In particular, the complex character of emotional work in such workplaces remains under investigated. This article applies Bolton's emotion management framework to a high-commitment mass customised call centre to extend understanding of the skills and content of such work. …
Beyond the enterprise
In this article we argue that International HRM research will benefit from an extended research agenda that moves: i) beyond the enterprise, ii) beyond managerialism, and iii) beyond universalism. This will require both a wider range of theoretical resources to be brought to bear and a greater attentiveness to the interpenetrating levels of the empirical worlds that are subject to evaluation and explanation. The article reflects on the opportunit…
Shopfloor Responsibilities Under Lean Teamworking
This paper reports managerial views of the responsibilities of teams, team members and functional specialists under lean production, based on the findings of an international study of management practices in the automotive components industry. The findings show limited evidence of shopfloor worker autonomy under lean team-working or of increases in technical skill; blue-collar specialists remain responsible for maintenance activities. However, th…
Manufacturing Control
Primary ethnographic research is drawn on in this paper so as to examine the nature of supervisory systems in two manufacturing organisations which have both, to varying degrees, implemented 'new' manufacturing techniques such as just-in-time and total quality management and have organised around 'teams'. Debates in industrial sociology and the labour process have understandably concentrated on the implications of such developments for workers; t…
Delivering micro-missions in public food transitions
Micro-missions represent small-scale, place-based strategies for societal innovation, distinct from grand missions that target national-level transformations. They offer potential for collaborative engagement among local stakeholders in the public sector, businesses, and civil society that aims to address local needs and promote wider innovation, particularly for social and ecological progress. Despite the potential for place-based micro-missions…
The Layering of Meso-Level Institutional Effects on Employment Systems in Japan
Japan's corporate governance and employment relations systems have been under considerable pressures to reform towards a more Anglo-American model, against a back-drop of intensified global competition and slow economic growth over two 'lost' decades. But what is the relationship between these systems, and specifically, how does corporate governance structure condition employment relations practice? This paper adopts the 'Systems, Society, Domina…
The management of second-generation migrant workers in China
How have organisations sought to manage tensions between the needs for flexible labour in neoliberal market economies and the benefits of a committed and motivated workforce? Through an in-depth, qualitative study of a Chinese company, we identify and theorise a novel variation of paternalism that was developed by the organisation to manage the tensions under neoliberal capitalism. We label this management regime ‘centrifugal paternalism’ since i…
A Critical Assessment of the Evaluation of EU Interventions for Innovation in the SME Sector in Wales
In this paper, the EU Structural Fund intervention framework is critically assessed in an effort to reflect on the problems faced by policy-makers when trying to make sense of the complexity associated with innovation. An assessment is made of the `evidence-based' approach for reporting on EU Structural Fund interventions in the Welsh economy. It is argued that the measurement of quantifiable inputs and outputs fails to engage sufficiently with t…
Pushing back the frontiers
Drawing on primary and secondary sources the authors argue that the JIT/TQM manufacturing system intensifies work as a result of increased surveillance and monitoring of workers' activities, heightened responsibility and accountability, the harnessing of peer pressure within ‘teams' and via ‘customers', and the fostering of ‘involvement’ in waste elimination and the continuous improvement of the production process
Manufacturing Control
Primary ethnographic research is drawn on in this paper so as to examine the nature of supervisory systems in two manufacturing organisations which have both, to varying degrees, implemented 'new' manufacturing techniques such as just-in-time and total quality management and have organised around 'teams'. Debates in industrial sociology and the labour process have understandably concentrated on the implications of such developments for workers; t…
Shopfloor Responsibilities Under Lean Teamworking
This paper reports managerial views of the responsibilities of teams, team members and functional specialists under lean production, based on the findings of an international study of management practices in the automotive components industry. The findings show limited evidence of shopfloor worker autonomy under lean team-working or of increases in technical skill; blue-collar specialists remain responsible for maintenance activities. However, th…
Knowledge, Innovation and Institutional Change
The Strength of Difference
Extended Review
Reviews of: Rowena Barrett (ed.): Management, Labour Process and Software \nDevelopment: Reality Bytes \n2005, London and New York: Routledge, xii 212 pages, hbk \nBill Harley, Jeff Hyman and Paul Thompson (eds): Participation \nand Democracy at Work: Essays in Honour of Harvie Ramsay \n2005, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, xiv 257 pages, \npbk \nTony Elger and Chris Smith: Assembling Work: Remaking Factory \nRegimes in Japanese Mul…
A Critical Assessment of the Evaluation of EU Interventions for Innovation in the SME Sector in Wales
In this paper, the EU Structural Fund intervention framework is critically assessed in an effort to reflect on the problems faced by policy-makers when trying to make sense of the complexity associated with innovation. An assessment is made of the `evidence-based' approach for reporting on EU Structural Fund interventions in the Welsh economy. It is argued that the measurement of quantifiable inputs and outputs fails to engage sufficiently with t…
Challenging conventions
In this article we theorize the early moments of non-isomorphic institutional change. In avoiding the `hero imagery' of the individual institutional entrepreneur we emphasize the role of different actors and broader historical processes in explaining the substantive changes and developments in the superyacht industry between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Particular attention is given to explaining the significance of entrepreneurialism, opposit…
Human Relations special issue call for papers
Human Relations special issue call for papers
Normative Control and Beyond in Contemporary Capitalism
Emotional management in a mass customised call centre
Researchers have demonstrated the variety of interactive service sector work yet relatively little research has focused on the middle ground of 'mass customised service work'. In particular, the complex character of emotional work in such workplaces remains under investigated. This article applies Bolton's emotion management framework to a high-commitment mass customised call centre to extend understanding of the skills and content of such work. …
Beyond the enterprise
In this article we argue that International HRM research will benefit from an extended research agenda that moves: i) beyond the enterprise, ii) beyond managerialism, and iii) beyond universalism. This will require both a wider range of theoretical resources to be brought to bear and a greater attentiveness to the interpenetrating levels of the empirical worlds that are subject to evaluation and explanation. The article reflects on the opportunit…
Inhabiting Institutions
This paper builds on recent contributions to understanding conditions of institutional complexity by developing a theoretical framework to elaborate the interdependencies between actions, contexts and institutional logics. Our aim is to refine existing explanations of how actors inhabit complex institutional settings. Drawing on a critical realist ontology, we treat agency and structure as analytically distinct phenomena to advance our understand…
In pursuit of happiness
While psychologists and economists have concerned themselves with employee happiness and well-being, critical organizational theorists have rarely examined employees’ positive responses at work. To explain why call-centre employees in our study responded positively to their organization we adopt a relational sociological approach to examine employee happiness and well-being. This approach emphasizes two main features: firstly, it is sensitive to …
Politics of place
The meaningfulness of the physical place within which resistance is nurtured and enacted has not been carefully considered in research on space and organizations. In this article, we offer two stories of middle managers developing resistance to managerial policies and decisions. We show that the appropriation and reconstruction of specific places by middle managers helps them to build autonomous resisting work thanks to the meanings that resister…
The Layering of Meso-Level Institutional Effects on Employment Systems in Japan
Japan's corporate governance and employment relations systems have been under considerable pressures to reform towards a more Anglo-American model, against a back-drop of intensified global competition and slow economic growth over two 'lost' decades. But what is the relationship between these systems, and specifically, how does corporate governance structure condition employment relations practice? This paper adopts the 'Systems, Society, Domina…
The management of second-generation migrant workers in China
How have organisations sought to manage tensions between the needs for flexible labour in neoliberal market economies and the benefits of a committed and motivated workforce? Through an in-depth, qualitative study of a Chinese company, we identify and theorise a novel variation of paternalism that was developed by the organisation to manage the tensions under neoliberal capitalism. We label this management regime ‘centrifugal paternalism’ since i…
Delivering micro-missions in public food transitions
Micro-missions represent small-scale, place-based strategies for societal innovation, distinct from grand missions that target national-level transformations. They offer potential for collaborative engagement among local stakeholders in the public sector, businesses, and civil society that aims to address local needs and promote wider innovation, particularly for social and ecological progress. Despite the potential for place-based micro-missions…
Political science (12 works) · Economics (11 works) · Business (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Management (6 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (6 works) · Engineering (5 works)